Gore speaks out.........................

[retro]

Get a copy of the Courier Mail sports section.

According to TEGA Gore circulated a letter at the paperclip about the mess that he thinks supercars are in.

[TheMan]

And Gore would know what about the sport? Maybe he should worry about the mess his team is in first and then someone might listen.

[retro]

I have emailed Mr Gore asking if he wiil publish his *letter* on his website for those who cannot get the Couriermail.

[eduardo1]

If it's in Courier Mail you may be able to find it on their website. The News Ltd sites are excellent, although their papers are rubbish (excepting the Australian)

[retro]

I can't find a link.

[HD_D5]

TheMan, if you think that the V8's arent rapidly becoming a business first, & a sport second, you are kidding your self, & in regards to running a business, I would think that Craig Gore would probably have forgotten more about running business's than you & I will ever know.

His comments were about the business side of the V8's mainly in relation to the cost of the licences, which appear to make sense.

As for his team, one could argue very easily that for a team that has been virtually thrown together at the last minute, they have achieved more then some of the better known & funded teams.

Anyway good on Gore for having the balls to put his money where his mouth is & have a decent go.

Cheers

[Onlooker]

Te license's are only a problem because of the closed shop mentality,what can be done about it? who knows.It isn't like the thought of using a stop watch to detirmine who is able to provide the paying spectators with the fastest 35 cars has dawned on them.

[eduardo1]

The licenses do a lot more than add a closed shop. They were a necessary evil 5 or 6 years ago.

What they do is ensure that there is a minimum of 32 cars at every round of the championship. This guarantee is then used to sell the 'show' to promoters, who can make the financial investment to host a round safe in the knowledge that they'll get the full grid.

While NSW & Vic & Qld would obviously get full grids, WA, Tas & NT and maybe NZ would get reduced grids. Is it fair to those fans?

I think the real reason that Gore is 'speaking out' is that he doesn't want to pay the going rate for 2 x L2 licenses. He got Thexton's relatively cheap, but he doesn't want to be forking out around $700K for another one.

Especially when he's got his good mate TC in his ear saying, "nah, you can get it for 300, don't give in to 'em".

He could own two licenses now if he was willing to pay the asking price. As it is, if he's not careful, he'll be paying more than 700K at the end of the year - or miss out entirely.

I'm not saying that the License system is perfect, but through its use the series has developed well. If you think back to the mid-90s, the low grids, 20 cars if you were lucky at Barbagallo, forget about Hidden Valley. Even as recent as 96/97 the once all-conquering Gibson Motorsport was cherry-picking rounds.

Do you think there would be a round in NT if the promoters didn't have the assurance that they'd be hosting a full grid?

It also means that, because the participants have a financial stake in the series, they then are more committed to it, as well as receiving financial returns on their investment through TV rights etc.

Perhaps the series is starting to outgrow the license system, and yes the closed shop mentality is starting to show some problems, but it does ensure a good show. And next year, when we have 35 genuine competitors, instead of this year where we've had 31, Thexton & 3 non-qualifiers, it should be even stronger.

My concern is there's no incentive for the 2nd tier runners, Konica team owners a prime example, as they can't get the funding without a Bathurst entry, and (conservatively) 90 percent of the Konica series entries are pay-drivers. So there's no money to buy even an L2 license. So why bother?

The removal of their entry at Bathurst could be the straw that derails the train, to mix a few metaphors.

[worried]

The franchise system (as it is more correctly titled) while it should ensure full grids, does not.

There have been a couple of instances of this over the past 2 seasons - a car is damaged beyond the teams capability to repair in time, an injured driver etc can all conspire to reduce the grid.

One basic area the current system falls down is that it does not allow promotion from a lower grade eg Konica's, when there is a shortfall.

But of course this would never come to pass because too many people have too much to lose if they allowed 'just anybody' to compete with the big boys.

[Chucky]

The English Premier League ladder system. Right on!

[eduardo1]

worried, yep, that is the problem, the lack of 'promotion path' is a disincentive for the Konica runners.

Not to be picky, but the term used is License, not franchise, which it is mistakenly referred to.

But the problem with the promotion/relegation system is that, unlike football teams, the V8 teams are financial stakeholders in the series, having invested in it.

I've thought of a variety of ways to try and merge the two, but nothing has really seemed workable.

[worried]

Konica teams are stakeholders just as much as SBR and HRT - so why shouldn't they be given an opportunity if the big boys decide they don't want to or can't play?

[retro]

Mr Gore (gory) will be posting his letter on his website later today. A public thank you to you for your reply and response.

[eduardo1]

A Level 1 license is going for around $2m, if you can get one.
L2 licenses around $700K, and by year's end they will all be snapped up by genuine competitors

Konica teams need to buy a Level 3 license, which is a few thousand dollars.

I don't think that you can really compare the level of investment.

And there is nothing stopping the Konica boys graduating 'if the big boys decide they can't or don't want to play'. They simply need to stump up the appropriate cash when a license becomes available.

In fact there is absolutely nothing stopping any Konica team from competing from Winton onwards, if they wish to pay the fee to buy a license and then commit to the series in the same way as, say, Paul Morris, Steve Ellery, Team Kiwi, or as David Thexton did.

But my earlier point, in the long post, is that it's very hard for these teams to make the jump considering the initial financial outlay.

That said, none of them have been keen to try and lease a license to run the series either, despite the availability of at least 2 licenses to do just that.

I'm not having a go at them about it - it's a massive investment in operating costs, I'm simply pointing out that if they really want to move up, there have been ways to do so.

[worried]

Don't get me wrong - I wasn't having a go at either the Konica guys or you - merely saying that having a L1 or 2 licence doesn't automatically mean full grids all the time and that when (if) these vacancies happen then there shouldn't be any logical reason why the top of the next level shouldn't also be allowed to play.

After all, some of them can easily shame the bottom end of the main field!

[Just Do It!]

That's all well and good, eduardo1, but look at what the four named Level 2 operations paid....it was nothing like $700,000 even in the case of David Thexton.

The question remains though: What if there are no buyers and a seller exists? The price plummets because no showing is significantly expensive.

Roland Dane must be laughing all the way to the bank!

[pete55]

The Gore/Cochrane relationship goes back a fair way. As far back as the opening of Sanctuary Cove at the latest, maybe before that.

[retro]

no link yet

[mountainstar]

The license system makes sense to me as it allows those who have invested in the catagory to be able to see a return if they sell out.

[GTRMagic]

The franchise system works in principle, but is yet to prove fruitful in practice.

The sooner all licences are treated the same, and required to rock up at each round, and receive the same fees as the others for doing so, the better the series shall become (if only because it stops the noise!)

Meantime, there is a perfomance warning system in place, Romano is under a review right now, and at the end of the season, if his franchise finishes lower than top 32 (as is likely) the team will have to make representations to TEGA as to why they deserve a place in the circus, and retain the franchise. Should that be unsuccessful, the franchise will be sold off to the highest bidder...

...enter stage left C.Gore...

...so there is a form of relegation there.

I get annoyed at the statements of PCR suggesting they should just be allowed into the main series, and not have to pay the piper to do so. Would their current drivers in any class run by that operation have the skills to do any good in the main series? Despite the hardware at their disposal, the cars are underperforming...

Now if their cars were dominating, perhaps you could see some logic to the argument, but in reality having a wish/dream, and then hitting the realities of fulfilling it are 2 different things.

By the same token, races every couple of weekends for 14 weekends a year, developing a car, engines, freighting crew around the joint... is a significant step up from where a Konica entry sits.

Life is all about opportunity, you are either blessed with it above your station, or you work your ar$e off until you achieve the goals you set yourself. But dont cry in your milk if the big boys wont let you play, there tend to be no free rides in life... or motorsport...

Meantime, motorsport is rarely a meritocracy, in any class, in any series, in any country you care to name, not even F1...

[Woody75]

Is there a clause GTR in the agreement with the teams that they can "review" a franchise and then on sell it???

If I was Bap i would be selling

[eduardo1]

Just Do It,

The current asking price is $700K, give or take.

At the beginning, when the license system was introduced, the fees were much smaller for the teams that were already in the series.

The Doulman/Cotter L2 franchise was the first one sold, to Team Kiwi, while I think Tony Longhurst's was the first L1 sold to Brad Jones (so he could join SBR). A year later, when Longhurst was looking to buy back in after losing the SBR drive, the price had, by all reports, tripled.

There have been no buyers lately because there has been a choice of licenses to buy, and only one serious buyer - Gore.

But Gore didn't want to pay the asking price. So a stalemate ensued, until Thexton sold, undercutting the other three sellers. That gave Gore some time, but the 'off-season' will be interesting because all of a sudden, there are still 3 licenses available, but four potential buyers!

The buyers -
A person who cannont be named (yet) who has either agreed to buy/option to buy/interest in buying, Romano's license.
Gore
Steve Ellery
Paul Morris, who reputedly has agreed to buy one of the licenses (and I know which one, if my source is, as usual, correct)

That leaves Gore & Ellery fighting over one license. As to my earlier post, Gore's had his chance and if he's not careful, will have to either pay a premium to outbid Ellery, or miss out and have to run one car next year (which would make things very interesting between himself and Tony Noske).

That doesn't take into account any others who may come into the picture in the next few months.

As for L1s, there isn't even a rumour of a sale at the moment.

And GTR is right, there is a form of relegation, but it's a messy one and is really only intended as an insurance policy.

However, Cochrane is in love with the idea of 32 car grids. He doesn't even like having 35 there and would love to be able to remove three to have his flying 32 car fruit fly circus travelling the globe, with the odd stop at an Australian street circuit.

Anybody want to add to my conspiracy theory?

[GTRMagic]

If you like... one of the names you mention as expanding in 2005, has actually made the difficult decision of shutting up shop at season's end.

The noise has been around a while, and indeed the owner has made all the right signals that the team is expanding rather than contacting, however a principal supporter, as well as primary sponsor are said not to be continuing into next season.

A crushing blow for all concerned, but not exactly surprising....

[silvervsix]

GTR
Would that team by supported by a sponsor that has only this week gone on the stock exchange ?????

[eduardo1]

Interesting GTR. I'm guessing I know which one (and I'd say silversix does too), and that is sad.

Which, if it happens, throws the whole L2 license game open again. Maybe Gore will get his license at a discount rate after all.